Belt abrader adjustment mechanism



Oct. 5, 1965 P. J. ROBISCHUNG 3,209,496

BELT ABRADER ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM Original Filed Aug. 27, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

, PH/LL/P J ROB/SCHUNG I BY ATTO/PN 8 Oct. 5, 1965 P. J. ROBISCHUNG 3,209,496

BELT ABRADER ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM Original Filed Aug. 27, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. PH/LL/P J ROB/SCHUNG ATTOR/VE YS Oct. 5, 965 P. J. ROBISCHUNG 3,209,496

BELT ABRADER ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM Original Filed Aug. 27, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

PH/LL /P J, ROB ISCHUNG X/WYKMW A TTOR/V E YS United States Patent Office 3,209,496 Patented Oct. 5, 1965 3,209,496 BELT ABRADER ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM Phillip J. Robischung, Kalamazoo, Mich., assignor to Hammond Machinery Builders, Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Original application Aug. 27, 1962, Ser. No. 219,397, now Patent No. 3,153,306, dated Oct. 20, 1964. Divided and this application Apr. 14, 1964, Ser. No, 368,747 Claims. (Cl. 51-148) This application is a division of my copending appli cation Serial No. 219,397, filed August 27, 1962, now Patent No. 3,153,306. The invention in this application relates to abrasive belt metalworking machines and particularly to a type thereof utilizing a belt of the order of from four inches in width to as little as one-eighth of an inch in width and readily adaptable to a wide range of specific uses.

Although the use of abrasive belt metalworking machines is not new, these machines have, insofar as I am aware, usually been confined to somewhat specialized uses, or at least any given machine has been capable of only a relatively narrow range of possible uses. Hence, there has remained a need for an abrasive belt machine, especially one adaptable for polishing the contours of irregularly shaped articles, which is extremely versatile and capable of handling a wide range of shapes and sizes of articles. However, the filling of this need creates certain problems in that the adapting of such a device to a wide variety of specific uses involves the provision of contact wheels of various diameters, widths, degrees of softness and other characteristics together with the provision of sufficient varying ways of mounting the contact wheel as to permit it to cooperate properly with workpieces of many different shapes.

Some initial attempts to meet these needs have been made in the machine illustrated in the United States Patents to Bader No. 2,578,662 and No. 2,763,103, and these machines have achieved some commercial success. However, the constructions involved in these patents, and others of similar nature, have not been Wholly satisfactory, particularly at the point of providing good sensitivity of belt-tracking adjustment and at the point of providing good versatility or adaptability to different types of work, and it is therefore desired to provide a machine which improves over the prior art at these and other points.

Accordingly, the objects of the invention include:

(1) To provide an abrasive belt machine having a high degree of versatility for handling irregular and contoured workpieces of a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

(2) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, which will effectively polish a number of different surfaces both concave and convex in articles of relatively small size and complex curvatures, such as golf club heads, cutlery, firearms, jet engine parts, plumbing goods, household and marine hardware, and the like.

(3) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, having a plurality of contact wheels, or heads, and in which machine said heads can be quickly and easily changed from one to another as desired to accommodate various kinds of workpieces.

(4) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, wherein one contact wheel may be freely interchanged with a variety of other contact wheels of different diameters, widths or materials.

(5) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, wherein the belt-tracking means is extremely sensitive so that the belt may be adjusted by the workman during operation of the machine for riding at any desired point on the contact wheel including extending slightly over one edge thereof.

(6) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, wherein the direction of rotation of the drive pulley may be reversed, even while the machine is running and without throwing off the belt, in order to reverse the direction of movement of the belt as needed to accommodate it to various types, sizes and shapes of workpieces.

(7) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, wherein the tensioning means for the belt may be either mechanical or fluid pressure operated, as desired, and wherein such tensioning means can be easily interchanged.

(8) To provide a machine, as aforesaid, which will be inexpensive to manufacture and which can be maintained in good operating condition with a minimum of maintenance cost.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons acquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading the following disclosure and inspection of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of the apparatus embodying the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a partially broken away, side view taken from the rightward side of the apparatus shown in FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a front end view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a broken sectional view taken on the line IV-IV of FIGURE 3 showing a spring belt-tensioning device.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 4 showing a modification for providing air tensioning of the belt.

FIGURE 6 is a partially broken away, sectional view taken along the line VIVI of FIGURE 5 showing the mounting of the idler wheel.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIGURE 2.

Detailed description Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG- URES 1 and 2, there is shown a base 1 supporting a pedestal 2, both thereof being of generally rectangular construction preferably fabricated from suitable welded sheet stock, reinforced at 2a (FIGURE 7) if desired, and supporting a pan 3 at the upper end thereof. A horizontal beam 4, suitably channeled to minimize weight but ribbed to provide strength, is pivoted at 6 to the pedestal 2 and clamped at 7 by any convenient clamp means anchored in a clamp plate 2b and extending through an arcuate opening 8 by which said beam 4 may be arranged as desired to raise or lower the hereinafter-mentioned contact wheel portion thereof to a convenient working height.

At the rightward end of the horizontal beam 4, as appearing in FIGURE 2, there is supported a motor 11 which is hung in any convenient manner by suitable means, such as bolts 12 and 13, from the lower surface of the beam 4. The motor 11 carries a pulley 14 on its shaft which pulley preferably is uncrowned.

The extreme rightward end of said beam 4 carries a vertically arranged split sleeve 16 which supports an upstanding tubular pulley support member 17. Clamping means, such as the bolt indicated at 18, is provided for holding said tubular member 17 rigidly in position. The upper idler pulley 19 is supported for free rotation on and with respect to a sleeve 21 which encircles the tubular member 17 and is vertically slidable with respect thereto. A vertically elongated slot 22 (FIGURES 4 and 6) is provided in said tubular member 17 at a suitable location thereon. A pulley tension adjusting screw 23 is coaxially arranged within said tubular member 17. Its lower end is threadedly received into a guide 24 which is vertically slidable within the tubular member 17. A rotation-preventing block 26 rides in the slot 22 and is fastened by a screw 27 to said guide 24 and prevents rotation thereof. .A collar 28 has an unthreaded opening 29 therein encircling the screw 23 and said collar is held fixed with respect to the sleeve 21 by a positioning block 31 which is received into a boss 32 on the sleeve 21 and which is fixedly secured thereto byra set screw .33. A screw 34 fastens the block 31 rigidly to the collar 28. A spring 36 extends between'the collar 28 and the guide 24.

The upper end of the screw 23 extends through a bearing block 37 which is fixed to the upper end of the tubular member 17 in any convenient manner, such as by screws 38. An adjusting hand crank 39 is fixed to the upper end of the screw 23 and is provided with any convenient means for manual rotation, such as the knob 41. Thus, rotation of the hand crank 39 will raise or lower the guide 24 which acts through the spring 36 to control the vertical position of the sleeve 21 and thereby control the vertical position of the upper idler 19.

' The upper idler 19 is crowned for belt-tracking purposes in a conventional manner.

Turning now to the means for mounting the contact wheel, a number of different devices are provided according to the size and type of contact wheel to be mounted. Referring first to the contact wheel shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, there is provided a yoke 51 having a smoothly machined lower surface 52 which is mounted on a correspondingly smoothly machined surface 53 (FIGURE 2) on the upper side of the leftward end of the beam 4, the same being held thereon by any convenient means such as screws of which one appears at 54. The yoke 51 is provided with upper and lower arms 56 and 57 between which is pivotally mounted a bearing housing 58. The bearing housing 58 has vertically extending pivot pins 60 and 60a which are pivotally supported in the arms 56 and 57, respectively, for pivotal movement about a vertical axis. The bearing housing 58 contains conventional bearing units within which is mounted a shaft 61 upon which is mounted in a known manner the contact roller or wheel 64.

Alternate fitting One of the objects of the'inven-tion being to provide a device which can be readily converted to use with other sizes and types of contact wheels and to use with other belt-tensioning means, attention will now be directed to the means by which this further objective is accomplished.

Turning first to such belt-tensioning means, attention is invited to FIGURE wherein the upper end of the tubular member 17 is shown. In this figure, certain parts are numbered the same as parts appearing in FIGURE 4 and it will be understood that these parts are identical with the parts shown in FIGURE 4 and accordingly no further description thereof will be needed. The block 28a is generally similar to block 28 excepting that its opening 29a is threaded for engagement with the screw 81 corresponding in function with the screw 23 of FIG- URE 4. Here, however, the head 37 is replaced by the head 82 which is generally similar to the head 37 except that it is adapted for receiving and supporting an air cylinder 83. The screw 81 is connected to a rod 84 which in turn passes through the piston 86 and is connected to a further rod 87. The piston 86 is clamped between a shoulder 85 near the upper end of the rod 84 and the lower end of the rod 87. The rod 87 extends on upwardly through the cylinder head 88 and is secured to a manually rotatable hand crank 89 which may be, and in this instance is, identical with the hand crank 39 of FIGURE 4.

Rotation of hand crank 89 will rotate the screw 81 and thus raise or lower the block 28a to raise or lower the upper idler wheel 19 as desired. Air under pressure introduced through the opening 91 into the portion of the cylinder 83 below the piston 86 will urge said idler wheel upwardly to provide the belt tensioning desired, the same being controlled in a known manner by suitable selection and control of the pressure applied at the port 91.

Thus, there is provided an extremely versatile abrasive belt machine which is especially adapted to the finishing of a wide variety of different kinds and sizes of irregular and contoured workpieces. Particularly, the versatility of this machine is enhanced by providing the machine with the ability to receive contact wheels of many different sizes, types, styles and means for supporting same all of which can be readily interchanged with respect to each other and wherein such interchanging either (a) will not upset previously established belt-tracking adjustments or (b) if a new belt-tracking adjustment is required it may be readily and simply carried out by the workman Without his leaving his normal position of use of the machine.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein for illustrative purposes, it will be understood that variations or modifications of such disclosure, which lie within the scope of the appended claims are fully contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. An abrasive belt machine, comprising in combination:

a base and a pedestal extending upwardly from the base;

a substantially horizontally extending beam mounted on said pedestal;

a driven roller mounted on said beam near said post;

an idler roller and means mounting said idler roller upon said post for movement lengthwise thereof;

a contact roller and means supporting said contact roller for rotation at the other end of said beam, the centers of said three rollers lying substantially within a common, substantially vertical plane;

a belt extending around the rollers;

pivot means on said supporting means for effecting movement of said contact roller about an axis passing substantially through the axis of said rotation of said contact roller, whereby said contact roller may be adjusted for tracking of the belt with a minimum of movement thereof;

rod means extending lengthwise within the interior of said post, and means supported on said rod means and connected to said idler roller mounting means for moving said idler roller mounting means along said post in response to movement of said rod means;

means including an air cylinder mounted at the upper end of said post for supporting and moving said rod means; and

adjustment means arranged on said post for effecting movement of said rod means with respect to said mounting means.

2. An abrasive belt machine, comprising in combination:

a base and a pedestal extending upwardly from the base;

a substantially horizontally extending beam mounted on said pedestal;

an upstanding hollow post mounted at one end of said beam;

a driven roller mounted on said beam adjacent said post;

a sleeve slideably mounted on said post for movement lengthwise thereof;

an idler roller and means mounting said idler roller upon said sleeve;

a contact roller and means supporting said contact roller at the other end of said beam for rotation around an axis substantially parallel with the axes of said idler roller and said driven roller, said three rollers intersecting a common, substantially vertical plane;

a belt extending around the rollers;

pivot means on said supporting means for effecting movement of said contact roller about an axis passing substantially through the axis of said rotation of said contact roller, whereby said contact roller may be adjusted for tracking of the belt with a minimum of movement thereof;

a rotatable screw extending concentrically within the interior of said post, and means threadedly supported on said screw and connected to said sleeve for determining the vertical position of said sleeve in response to said rotation of said screw;

means including an air cylinder mounted at the upper end of said post for supporting said screw, said screw extending upwardly through the top of said air cylinder; and

means arranged on said air cylinder for rotating said screw.

3. An abrasive belt machine, comprising in combination:

a base and a pedestal extending upwardly from the base;

a substantially horizontally extending beam mounted on said pedestal;

an upstanding hollow post mounted at one end of the said beam;

a first roller and means supporting same on said beam adjacent said post;

a second roller and bracket means mounting same on said post above the first roller, one of said first and second rollers being driven, said upstanding post having a lengthwise slot therein between the upper end thereof and said beam, said bracket means being slideable lengthwise of said post;

an elongated rod extending downwardly into the upper end of the said post, the lower end of said rod being threaded;

collar means disposed within said post and having an opening through which the threaded lower end of said rod extends;

connection means extending through said slot and secured to and between said collar means and said bracket means for effecting simultaneous movement thereof along said post;

bearing means secured to said post near the upper end thereof and rotatably supporting said rod near its upper end;

crank means secured to the upper end of rod means;

yieldable means within said post urging said collar means, hence said bracket means, upwardly along said post;

a contact roller mounted for rotation and pivotal movement at the other end of said beam, the centers of each of said three rollers lying within a common, substantially vertical plane; and

a belt extending around said rollers.

4. A machine according to claim 3, wherein said yieldable means includes a guide threadedly engaged by the lower end of said rod and a spring loosely sleeved on said rod and held under compression between said guide downward movement of said rod is opposed by pressure fluid within the pressure fluid cylinder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,578,662 12/51 Bader 51-148 ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

9/58 Bader 5l-;135

5 LESTER M. SWINGLE, Examiner. 

1. AN ABRASIVE BELT MACHINE, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: A BASE AND A PEDESTAL EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE BASE; A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING BEAM MOUNTED ON SAID PEDESTAL; A DRIVEN ROLLER MOUNTED ON SAID BEAM NEAR SAID POST; AN IDLER ROLLER AND MEANS MOUNTING SAID IDLER ROLLER UPON SAID POST FOR MOVEMENT LENGTHWISE THEREOF; A CONTACT ROLLER AND MEANS SUPPORTING SAID CONTACT ROLLER FOR ROTATION AT THE OTHER END OF SAID BEAM, THE CENTERS FOR SAID THREE ROLLER LYING SUBSTANTIALLY WITHIN A COMMON, SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL PLANE; A BELT EXTENDING AROUND THE ROLLERS; PIVOT MEANS ON SAID SUPPORTING MEANS FOR EFFECTING MOVEMENT OF SAID CONTACT ROLLER ABOUT AN AXIS PASSING SUBSTANTIALLY THROUGH THE AXIS OF SAID ROTATION OF SAID CONTACT ROLLER, WHEREBY SAID CONTACT ROLLER MAY BE ADJUSTED FOR TRACKING OF THE BELT WITH A MINIMUM OF MOVEMENT THEREOF; ROD MEANS EXTENDING LENGTHWISE WITHIN THE INTERIOR OF SAID POST, AND MEANS SUPPORTED ON SAID ROD MEANS AND CONNECTED TO SAID IDLER ROLLER MOUNTING MEANS FOR MOVING SAID IDLER ROLLER MOUNTING MEANS ALONG SAID POST IN RESPONSE TO MOVEMENT OF SAID ROD MEANS; MEANS INCLUDING AN AIR CYLINDER MOUNTED AT THE UPPER END OF SAID POST FOR SUPPORTING AND MOVING SAID ROD MEANS; AND ADJUSTMENT MEANS ARRANGED ON SAID POST FOR EFFECTING MOVEMENT OF SAID ROD MEANS WITH RESPECT TO SAID MOUNTING MEANS. 